


Black Streak of Lightning

by SailorChibi



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Alternate Universe - Sentinels and Guides Are Known, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Guide Tony Stark, Multi, Natasha Romanov & Tony Stark Friendship, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Steve Rogers, Sentinel Steve Rogers, Sentinel/Guide, Shapeshifting, Soulmate marks, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Has Self-Esteem Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark is a cat, damsel in distress wanda maximoff, sentinel bucky barnes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-02
Updated: 2019-11-02
Packaged: 2021-01-16 18:20:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21275624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SailorChibi/pseuds/SailorChibi
Summary: Tony didn't want to tell Bucky and Steve the truth, but shapeshifting in front of them made the truth pretty hard to miss.





	Black Streak of Lightning

**Author's Note:**

> Another old fic, not really sure where to end this one. I just kinda ran out of steam.

For some forty years, the only people who knew were Howard and Jarvis and the guide, handsomely paid and sworn to secrecy, who taught Tony how to shield himself.

In the span of five minutes, all of that effort has fallen into pieces at Tony's feet.

He stares at the screens, barely hearing the sound of Hill's voice over the pounding of his heart. The fortress looks like something out of a comic book, built from a combination of concrete and a revolutionary space-age polymer. There is not an ounce of metal anywhere in the place according to SHIELD, which really makes Tony wonder about their technology - FRIDAY isn't detecting anything that she can hack, which means their systems might be pretty damn rudimentary. When Hydra makes a plan to take down Magneto, they don't do it lightly. 

It's not Magneto in there, though, but Wanda, and right now none of them know how they're going to get in. The place is sealed up from head to toe; even if they could make it past the shields, there are literally no windows or visible doors. And not a single person has gone in or out in over forty-eight hours. Not even Natasha would be able to worm her way in. The only flaw in the whole structure are the pipes through which water and sewage pass, but they're about ten inches across at the most. A tight squeeze for a small animal, never mind a human. 

"We have to do something," Steve says, sounding like he's about two seconds away from just throwing his shield at the front of the fortress and damn the consequences. Tony blinks and turns to look at him, startled.

"You saw the footage, Captain," Hill says. "If you charge in there, there's an excellent chance they'll just kill Wanda before you even get to the front door." She folds her arms, looking tense. "Vision is on the way, but his E.T.A. is approximately twelve hours -"

"We can't wait that long!"

"What do you propose we do?" Hill demands. "We're out of options."

Not entirely. Tony swallows hard. His throat feels like sandpaper. Fear and nerves make his fingers cold, and he flexes them unconsciously. Forty years. He can practically feel the force of Howard's glare on his back, daring him to say or do anything to compromise the carefully built facade. No one living knows that Tony Stark is a guide. No one living knows that he's been in proximity to both of his sentinels for the past seven years. He planned on dying without ever saying a word to either one of them, and if they found out after he was dead then it didn't really matter anymore.

He didn't plan on dying today, but sometimes that's life. It would almost be a blessing to not have to deal with anyone's reactions at this point.

"This is stupid," Steve says, looking around the room. Sam and Natasha meet his gaze without flinching. Bucky, near the front of the room, is busy re-examining the blueprints SHIELD's managed to gather for the fifteenth time. Tony looks at him for only a second before dropping his gaze. After all this time he should be used to the feel of Steve's anger and frustration battering at his shields, an unconscious move on Steve's part, but it hurts all over again.

While Hill and Steve continue to argue, Tony takes the opportunity to slip out of the room. The jet is grounded some fifty feet away from the fortress; agents have been back and forth doing recon so many times that there's a trail. Tony walks it alone, his mind for once not buzzing with anger or grief or anxiety. He feels surprisingly calm. The mark on his inner thigh burns a little, the way it always does when Steve or Bucky is upset. The feeling is easily shunted aside, though, because it's going to get worse before it gets better.

They're going to be _so mad_. 

He makes it to the edge of the fortress and is not all surprised when Natasha is the one to sashay by him and stick a hand out against the shield. It crackles with electricity against her palm. Beside her, Sam makes a thoughtful sound and crosses his arms. Steve glares at the shields like they've done something to offend him personally. Bucky is less focused on the shields and more focused on making sure that Steve doesn't do anything stupid. None of them deal well with standing still.

"If we could get in there," Tony begins.

"As long as we could make sure Wanda is safe, we could raise hell," Sam says, picking up on his train of thought instantly. "But there's no way to get in. We're stuck waiting on Vision."

"Hill mentioned the pipes."

Natasha holds up three fingers. "Three times a day, they flush the system. She investigated the possibility of slipping something into the water, but it didn't pan out. They have a filtering system set up under ground. You should feel it in the next ten minutes. The ground shakes when it kicks in."

Ten minutes. That's all Tony needs to hear. He sighs, shaking out his arms to dispel the tension. "Got a spare communicator? Anyone?"

"What for?" Bucky wants to know, but he thumbs open a pouch at Steve's waist and takes out one of their spares, handing it over without waiting for an explanation.

Tony drops it on the ground. Bucky opens his mouth, likely to read him the riot act, but Tony ignores him. He's too busy letting his shields fall away, and the sensation of falling overwhelms him immediately because he hasn't dared to allow himself to do this in _years_. It's like stretching your whole body after being in one place for too long; the world shifts and he catches himself with an arm before he can fall flat on his face, except it's not an arm any longer - it's a paw. A delicate black paw, to be exact.

Above him, there's stunned silence. Tony knows exactly what they're looking at: the mark on his back, just above his tail, that forever marks him as the guide to Captain America and the Winter Soldier. He sweeps his tail over it unconsciously, because the first time that Howard saw it he threatened to burn it off, and Tony's never liked anyone looking at it since that moment. The disorientation, stronger this time because of how long it's been, makes him nauseous even from that simple movement.

"Tony?!" Steve chokes out.

There's no time, though. He grabs the communicator in his mouth and takes off.

"Tony!" Natasha shouts.

Like a black streak of lightening, Tony darts across the grass and heads straight for the fortress. The shields make his fur stand on end, but he'd observed the birds passing harmlessly through and so does he. He zigzags down the bank of the river, leaps over the thinnest part, and pads silently up to the water in-take pipe. He has to time this perfectly, down to the last second, or one of two things could happen. Either he'll miss his chance, or he'll be stuck inside the pipe while it's filled with water and drown. Neither option is attractive.

So when he hears the whine of machinery, long before human ears would have, he darts forward into the water. Panic claws at his throat when he's swept into the pipe and for a few seconds he can't breathe, can't see, can't even think - 

Then the machinery clicks off, the water level dies around him, and Tony is left sitting on the bottom of the pipe, communicator still in his mouth, gasping for breath and trembling. The panic is still in his chest, just waiting to overwhelm him, but he pushes it down. He doesn't have time for a panic attack right now, when he's this close to Wanda. 

He slinks along the pipe, which is much longer than he thought. He's exhausted by the time he makes it to the end. Actually escaping the pipe is probably the easiest part of the whole rescue attempt - the water gets funneled into a large tank for holding, which is currently being cleaned. Tony drags himself out of the pipe and scoots out the open door before the two janitors even notice his presence. He's soaked, so he shakes himself off as best he can and keeps moving. 

The facility is enormous, yet not very well manned. For that reason, most of the rooms have glass windows so that the guards can see what's going on without having to pause their patrols. Tony finds Wanda on the third floor, right smack dab in the middle of the place. Through the window, he can see that her hands and feet are bound. There's a blindfold over her eyes, a gag in her mouth and some kind of collar around her neck. His fur bristles at the sight of the collar; he wants to change back and tear it off and make it explode, but a cooler head prevails.

He finds a spot where he can curl up in a shadow and wait, and soon enough a couple of guards wander through. One of them opens the door and makes a slow circle around Wanda's room, even though it's bare aside from her. Tony slinks in behind him and waits until the guards are gone before he changes back. It hurts a hell of a lot more this time, and Tony can't help the soft mewl of pain he can't contain. Wanda goes tense at the sound and mutters something unintelligible.

"It's me," Tony says, shaking from pain and exertion, and gets close enough to gently slip the communicator into her ear. He presses the button and someone - Natasha, from the sound of it - immediately starts to talk. Wanda's head bobs and she makes another, quieter sound, a happy sound that Natasha apparently interprets correctly judging by how her voice softens into something soothing.

The first thing Tony does is remove her blindfold and the gag. Wanda blinks up at him, eyes wide and stunned. She's probably not very happy to see him, let alone see him in all of his naked glory. Too bad. Tony drops down on one knee and starts in on her feet. They used rope, actual rope, to tie her up. He understands that they didn't want to have any metal in the fortress because hello, Magneto, but would it have killed them to invest in something that didn't leave friction burns on the delicate skin of Wanda's ankles and wrists?

There's an explosion. 

"Steve is angry," Wanda says, obviously repeating something Natasha said. Her voice is hoarse. Tony looks up at her. For the first time, he sees the bruises on her face. It makes anger curl under his skin.

"Good," he says, pulling the last of the rope away. He scoots around so he can work on her wrists.

"Natasha says that you need to talk," she adds, and Tony winces. 

"Talking is overrated. Just tell them to get their asses in here already," he mutters, shivering. It's cold, and he feels damp to the bones.

"She heard you." Wanda's smile is tiny, but still there, and Tony smiles back helplessly. 

The room is locked, but within fifteen minutes Sam shows up and shatters the thick glass with a well-placed bomb. He can't carry the both of them, so Tony reverts back to his spirit form. The expenditure in energy is too much; he sways on his paws, nearly tipping over, as exhaustion slams into him full force. Wanda scoops him up just in time, holding him very gently against her chest, like he's something fragile. Tony didn't expect to like being held, but Wanda is warm and it's the most contact the two of them have ever had. Sam picks her up and flies them both to safety. Sometime in the air, Tony passes out.

He wakes up to the luxurious feel of someone petting him. He's shocked at how good it feels: the large hand starts at the back of his neck and slowly runs down his back to the base of his tail, fingers trailing over his sides, before lifting away to start again at his neck. The pressure is just right and lights up pleasure centers Tony didn't even know he _had_; he tenses a little and the petting, regrettably, stops.

The bed shifts beside him, mattress sinking down, and Tony cracks open an eye. Natasha looks down at him, her face full of concern. She was the one petting him, so careful and gentle, that Tony kind of wants her to start again. He goes to stand up and wavers, suddenly dizzy.

"Careful, Tony," Natasha whispers. "The doctor said you overdid it. Exhausted yourself after not changing for so long. What have I told you about not using your muscles, huh?" She shakes her head with a fond, if somewhat sad, smile. "And the bond rejection didn't help."

Tony hisses at her, opening his mouth wide to show his teeth.

"Yeah, yeah. You don't wanna talk about it. I don't think you'll have much choice. Your supersoldiers practically turned themselves inside out after you took off." She gives him a gentle nudge, and Tony's not stupid enough to bite her so he lets it happen, turning to see - 

Oh.

That explains why he can't feel Steve or Bucky, then, even though his shields are down. A huge white wolf with a metal arm is laying on the bed just across from Tony. Beside the wolf, a pale brown horse's head is resting on the bed. The remainder of the horse is on the floor just because there's not enough room for all of them. Tony doesn't have to look to know that he'll find the same mark on both the horse and the wolf, in the same place as on his own body.

Natasha tweaks his fur. "You three are idiots," she says, not unkindly.

Tony just blinks at her. She doesn't understand. No one understands. Guides are weak. He's known that since the day he was born. Stark men aren't weak - but Tony. Tony ruins everything he ever touches. Case in point: the fact that even now, two years after Zemo's attempt at destroying them, the team is still a little awkward with each other. Still not quite there yet, still unsure, still fractured.

And Steve and Bucky have fought hard to get to where they are now. They never bring up a guide ever, and Tony suspects that they've quietly assumed that their guide died a long time ago. It's what he wants them to think. They weren't supposed to know the truth, but of course he's messed that up too. 

He doesn't want to be an obligation.

"It'll be okay, Tony," Natasha says. She pets him again, but that warm feeling doesn't come back. Tony sets his head down on his paws and curls up into the tiniest ball he can, already planning to slip out as soon as he can muster the energy to change back. He'll go back to New York and hide in the workshop until this blows over and they can forget it ever happened.

Of course, like all of his plans, it doesn't really happen that way. Natasha keeps an annoyingly close eye on him over the next two days, but at least she also keeps Bucky and Steve away. Tony's not ready to see them yet (not ever) so he'll take riding around on Natasha's shoulder instead, and even grows to enjoy hiding beneath her beautiful red hair until some idiot ventures too close. The first time a SHIELD agent screams like a little kid because Tony lashed out and clawed him without warning, Natasha laughs until she cries.

On the third morning, Tony wakes up alone – or so he thinks. When he blinks his eyes open, Natasha is gone and Tony is laying on Bucky’s lap. He hisses, digging his claws in, but Bucky doesn’t finch.

“Just listen,” Bucky says, one hand gently stroking Tony’s back. 

“We didn’t know,” Steve says, and Tony flinches ever so slightly because shit, they’re both here and the door is shut. Natasha is so taking cold showers for a week when they get back home.

“But Tony, we’re happy.”

That catches Tony’s attention. He looks up at the two of them with startled, vulnerable eyes, and is promptly treated to the sight of Captain America and the Winter Soldier melting like puppies.

“We didn’t think we had a guide,” Steve tells him, expression soppily soft. “We thought –”

“Thought you’d died, back in the war,” Bucky cuts in. “It just made sense. That’s why we never brought it up. It was just too hard. And now you – you’re here –” His hands trembles where it rests on Tony’s back, and for the first time Tony seriously considers the fact that he made a mistake.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Steve asks.

Tony looks away and makes a low sound in the back of his throat.

“If you don’t want us –” Bucky starts. 

Tony digs his claws in reflexively at the mere mention of a stunningly _stupid_ idea.

Bucky yelps.

Steve chuckles. “I guess that’s a no,” he says carefully. “Could we just – can we talk, Tony? Just talk. That’s all we’re asking for.”

Their eyes are so wide and hopeful. Hopefully about _him_. Tony doesn’t understand it. He’s nothing worth wanting. 

But if they want him…

He supposes a talk can’t hurt, and slowly nods.

Both their faces split into identical, huge grins.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](https://tsuki-chibi.tumblr.com/).


End file.
